Takanori Nagase takes gold after victory over Tchrikishvili and Kim

First thought when somebody mentions the U81kg category is either Avtandil Tchrikishvili or Jae-Bum Kim, but not today. Today at the Tokyo Grand Slam Japanese fans cherish their new hero Takanori Nagase who beat both of them at the last Grand Slam of season. Nagase didn't just beat current Olympic Champion or World Champion, big names such as Ivan Nifontov, Sergiu Toma also were caught into this Japanese vortex. What a day for this 21-year old youngster.

Nagase isn't a nobody, he prolonged last year's title, although that field was way weaker. This year in Paris he won bronze but came short in Chelyabinsk with a fifth place. Obviously he was in the golden team of Japan U81kg. Saturday was his real World Championship, and he won.

The last final of the day opposed the already winner of the Grand Slam last year in Tokyo, NAGASE Takanori (JPN), who defeated the current world champion in the semi-final, and Sergiu TOMA (UAE), bronze medallist this year at the World Championships in Chelyabinsk. After the first minute and a half, NAGASE was penalized with a first shido for passivity. Exactly one minute later, both athletes were penalized this time, TOMA keeping his advantage of one penalty. But 35 seconds before the end, both athletes were tight again, when TOMA was penalized. It was time for the golden score. After almost one minute and thirty seconds, the UAE athlete received a last shido for passivity. Respectively bowing towards the referee, TOMA accepted the second victory in a row of NAGASE Takanori with fairplay.

To determine the winner of the first bronze medal fight, the public did not have to wait too long. After a period of observation and some quite strong attacks from MARUYAMA Goki (JPN), Alexander WIECZERZAK (GER) used a tiny opportunity to apply a shime-waza technique to his opponent for an immediate ippon, concluding a good day for the former Junior World Champion (Agadir 2010).

The second bronze medal fight featured the ultimate favorite of the category and current world champion, Avtandili TCHRIKISHVILI (GEO) who was untouchable until his semi-final against NAGASE Takanori (JPN) who surprisingly was able to throw him for ippon. To finally step on the podium, the Georgian had a last fight against Victor PENALBER (BRA). Less than a minute was necessary to TCHRIKISHVILI to propel PENALBER up in the sky for a flat landing on his back for ippon. TCHRIKISHVILI could finally show a small smile after capturing the bronze medal.